Unarmed Indians soft targets in Kabul: Krishna

Published: Sunday, March 21, 2010, 13:49 [IST]

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New Delhi, Mar 21: Acknowleding the terror threats on Indians in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said that Indian aid workers in Kabul have become "soft targets" for terrorists who are planning to derail India-Afghan relations.

"The Indians who have gone there to Afghanistan on humanitarian purposes are unarmed. So, naturally they become easy targets, soft targets," Krishna said.

Krishna said that there was a warning that Indian missions and volunteers involved in humanitarian work in Afghanistan are going to be under attack as the Indian volunteers clearly portrays what India intends to do to develop Afghanistan.

Promising to protect the Indians in Afghanistan, the External Affairs Minister said that India willl adopt additional measures for the safety of its nationals.

"Apart from what the Afghanistan government is doing, I think we will have to take some additional measures ourselves," he said.

He said that the Kabul attack was carried out by those who wanted to create hurdles in the India-Afghan relationship.

"I think (the Feb 26 Kabul attack that killed seven Indians) has been the handiwork of those forces who are out to see that the relationship between India and Afghanistan is jeopardized," Krishna said in a TV news report.

Responding to a query on whether US has accepted the hand of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit behind the attack, Krishna said that "America cannot come to any other conclusion other than to accept that it was the handiwork of these terrorist organizations."

However, Krishna refused to give further details on the matter.

"We will have to be on our guard. We will have to realize the tremendous risks involved when we are on a humanitarian mission like the one we have in Afghanistan," he said.